|
California Base. The central hub of the Terrestial Assault Force is a constant hive of activity. Even with the fortunes of war growing sour on Earth, the base is still doing its utmost to support the Duchy of Zeon's war effort. It will continue to do so, for so long as Zeon soldiers occupy its grounds. That same promise is shared by the fighting units who pass through California Base. Even though the Schutzstaffel Tactical Fighting Unit is recovering from its lengthy expedition into the heart of the Earth Federation captial, her soldiers press on. Even in safety, they practice the arts of war so they would be ready for their next descent into combat. The boiling sounds of beam blades meeting armor plating are quickly followed by the hiss of cooling metal. The hum of energy weapons are punctured by the heavy cycling of projectile rounds. Lieutenant Colonel Esther MacKernan stepped back as the Gyan Test Type raised its shield. The close combat mobile suit triggered the Hide Bombs in the shield; Mackernan is confident that an enemy this close to such a giant burst of munitions would have no chance of dodging. But Standartenfuhrer Sebastian Brennan is no fool. The SS officer had disabled the safety limiter on the Zeon Gundam's movement system prior to the spar. He does not like half measures. A spar is barely tolerable tohim. As the first Hide Bombs began to leave their silos on the Gyan's shield, the Zeon Gundam did a full split. The green Lunar Titanium mobile suit sank down into ground, bending forward into its split like a ballerina as the munitions harmlessly pass by over head. The former actress barely had time to back out of the way as Brennan tried to trip her with the Zeon Gundam's leg. The Gyan leaped into the air as paintballs from the Zeon Gundam's 75mm gatling gun chased after it. The hail of paintballs reaches out vain to touch the agile and experienced Russian. Brennan got back up as he tracked the elusive woman on his screens. He's going to have to teach that MAF officer someday that war is not a movie set. But something suddenly grabbed his left arm. The pointy claws of 2nd Lieutenant Alec Irusk's Z'Gok E closed around the gatling shield. While the rest of the Zeon Gundam is made of strong Lunar Titanium, the shield is made of more manageable tensile steel. As the gatling shield began to collapse, Brennan planted the Gundam's left foot on the Z'Gok E in an effort to pry off the warmonger. Irusk is not your peachy face cadet however. The man that saw enough to be an instructor and then sent back to the frontlines repositioned the weight of the Z'Gok E so that even the up-armored Zeon Gundam cannot budge him. The gatling shield finally collapsed upon itself in a thousand pieces, separating the two Zeon pilots. The small victory came at a price however; the destruction of the gatling shield damaged the rapid fire mega particle cannons in that Z'Gok E arm. The Z'Gok E began raise its other arm but Irusk saw the SS officer is quicker than he thought. Already, Brennan is attacking the Z'Gok E with his beam saber with a ferocity compared to an angry elephant. But Irusk still have a few aces up his sleeves. In a move that happen quicker than the blink of the eye, Irusk grabbed the sword hand of the Zeon Gundam. That move crippled his last rapid fire MPC, but it didn't matter. The claws wrapped around the Gundam's hand, immobilizing the beam saber. The Z'Gok E's free hand shot forward and grabbed the Zeon Gundam's neck. Vulcan fire spray wildly past Irusk as Brennan tried to regain the upper hand. Then Irusk kicked things into high gear. Literally. Each Z'Gok E comes equipped with a one-time-use booster pack. The booster pack is meant for lightning fast aerial leaps during amphibious attacks. The warmonger thinks it could also be thing to knockout the Zeon Gundam. Indeed, the ignited booster pack allowed the Z'Gok E to tackle the Zeon Gundam with such ferocity at such a close range to send them flying back into California Base themselves. Zeon soldiers and civilans alike ran to get away from the chaos as both Brennan's and Irusk's mobile suits lay still from the impact. Then the sound of straining gears and motors as both units got back up. They eye each other like boxers down to the last round for the championship title. A flinch and they- - Then proceed to be shot silly by a mass of paintball rounds. Esther MacKernan stood there humming a showtune to herself as her MMP-80 90mm machinegun emptied its magazine into the two helpless mobile suit. She continues humming her little song as she loaded up another magazine of paintballs and opens fire on the Zeon Gundam and Z'Gok E. Not a hundred meters away, Captain Marina Nimue sighed as she took a sip from her cup of coffee. Her hopes of a quiet day on the outside terrace at a small secluded street cafe had been destroyed with pinpoint accuracy. "My compliments to our chaps in shining armor... they do know how to put on a good show." Hans Bond took the few steps from the cafe's door to where Marina was sitting. He set down his cup of espresso next to the Pendragon's captain. "I'm not in the mood, Mr. Bond," remarked Marina. "Oh, don't be such a downer, dear," reassured the SS operative," all ol' Hans wants is to be good company." They paused for a moment as MacKernan reloads another magazine and began shooting again. "I'm about to leave anyway." "Leave? Surely I'm not that much of a nuisance to you to not be worth even five minutes of your time." "No Mr. Bond, it's the pending paint smell. We are downwind." "Ah. Off we go then." Esther MacKernan - 4 VP Gained, Repairing 2-1 Sebastian Brennan - 2 VP Gained, Repairing 2-1 Alec Irusk - 1 VP Gained, Repairing 2-1 |